The Status of the Qur'an in the Studies of the Early Islam’s History

The Holy Quran, as the basic scripture of the Islam, contains a host of references to the events and persons at the early days of Islam. Informed by these references, this holy scripture is sometimes considered as a historiographical work, with some scholars even speaking of the historiographical style of the Qur'an, which has also been the subject of several books and articles. This paper delves into this issue, and by distinguishing the two concepts of "historical text" and "historical document", seeks to answer the question, "Can Qur'an be considered as a historical work?" and "What implications can it have for the studies of the early Islam’s history?" The results of this article reveal that although the Qur'an cannot be exactly categorized as a historical book, it offers an account of the historical events during the era of prophet Muhammad (pbuh), which makes it into a unique primary document.